OPER8050

Global Supply Chain Management II

Course Project (A) (Due in Week 4)
This is a group project and is due October 1st in the eConestoga dropbox, no later than
11:59 pm.

Follow these guidelines in completing your Course Project:

 Attach a cover page to your Project answers indicating your course name and
number, section number, Project title, group number, and group member names.
 The project report should not exceed 8 pages in length, excluding cover page,
reference page and exhibits.
 Cite and reference all sources using APA Conestoga.
 Answer questions in your own words rather than simply cut and paste material.
 Proof-read your document before submitting your final copy.

The course project will be marked out of 100 points and is worth 20% of your course
grade.

Answer all of the following questions.

1) In the reading for this week “B2B Ecommerce: How the Best in B2B Sales Succeed
Online”, Neil Patel, (one of the interviewees in section 2 titled “Head off the B2B Beal
Breakers Before its Too Late”) talks about the importance of the IT department in
creating a successful B2B company. Article #2

a) In Mr. Patel’s opinion, why does the IT department cause B2B deals to fall apart?
(marked out of 3 points)

b) In the reading for week 4 (Article #4) “Six Reasons Why Business-to-Business e-
commerce Simplifies Your Supply Chain” identify and describe six ways the IT
department contributes to the success of a B2B strategy as described by Ian O’Brien in
that article? (marked out of 12 points)

2) In the reading for week 4 (Article #3) “Five Steps to Excellence in B2B
eCommerce” Forrester discusses the increased interest in the use of a single-stack
approach to ecommerce. Using the parameters contained in this article:

a. Discuss what a single-stack approach is and how it compares to companies that

use traditional front end e-commerce systems combined with their stand-alone
back-end systems. (marked out of 15 points)

1
 b. In your own words and using real world examples describe each of the five key
steps for e-commerce excellence as it relates to a single-stack approach.
(marked out of 15 points)

3) UPS is the word’s largest transportation company (Gara, 2017, para. 2), based on
the readings this week, and information found at
https://www.ups.com/us/en/supplychain/Home.page?: See file in Week 4 resources.

a) Describe the supply chain services (transportation, distribution and other solutions)
that UPS offers. How does UPS utilize B2B to sell such supply chain services (marked
out of 15 points)

b) How does the IT department within UPS contribute to the success of UPS’s B2B e-
commerce strategy? How much money does UPS spend annually on IT? From their
website describe a minimum of 4 UPS Technology & Innovations that are B2B (IT
based solutions) that UPS offers? (marked out of 15 points)

OPER8050 Group Project Grade Rubric

Group #
Question # Possible Marks Mark
Awarded
1. a) 3
b) 12
2. a) 15
b) 15
3. a) 15
b) 15
Citing & Referencing 10
Format (grammar, spelling, legibility, etc.) 15
ST 100
Late submission penalty (up to 25 points) -25
Total

Note re answer content:

Simply copying material from the readings or websites without additional explanation is
not acceptable as an answer. Use the information contained in the readings and
applicable websites as the basis of your analysis, then draw your conclusions from the
analysis and express your answers as your original contribution in your own words
References
Gara, A. (2017, May 24) 2017 Forbes Global 2000: The World's Largest Transportation
Companies. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/05/24/2017-
global-2000-the-worlds- largest-transportation-companies/#6a1988c1406d)